News Corp.

11.15.11

28 Reporters Linked to Phone Hacking

Simon Dawson, Bloomberg / Getty Images

It’s not a smoking gun, but British investigators have uncovered their best evidence yet that phone hacking was systemic at News of the World: 28 names from the newspaper’s staff appear in the notes of Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator originally accused of being a sole “rogue” agent. It was Mulcaire’s habit to note the name of the reporter who hired him in the top-left corner of each page. "This fact alone suggests wide-ranging, illegal activity within the organization at the relevant time,” said Robert Jay, a counsel for the inquiry. The words “The Sun,” one of News Corp.’s other British newspapers, also appear in his notes, although without any specific names attached.